YouTube Leader Susan Wojcicki Launches New App at VidCon

Susan Wojcicki speaks at YouTube #Brandcast presented by Google at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on April 29, 2015 in New York City.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki took to the annual VidCon conference today, her second appearance since being appointed to lead the online video giant, proclaiming again the company's focus on mobile as well as a redesigned app.

Wojcicki told VidCon that the company's focus is "mobile, mobile and mobile! Today, we ARE a mobile company. More than half of our views come from mobile devices. More than half of our watchtime comes from mobile devices. And mobile revenue is growing 100 percent year-on-year.” To that end, a new, bright red mobile app was released to Android devices and mobile browsers today, featuring a pared-down interface with tabs for subscriptions, recommendations and account activity like recent history as well as video editing tools.

The company also released some snapshot statistics on video consumption on the site, reporting that time spent viewing videos was up 60 percent over last year. YouTube says it draws over four billion views per day. The company also reports that its number of advertisers was up 40 percent year over year, with average spend per advertiser climbing 60 percent. No advertising sales volume metrics were reported. The company introduced a new ad product in late May, TrueView, which only charges advertisers for spots that are chosen by the viewer to be seen, whether by not skipping or interacting with the player, giving YouTube's ad customers better metrics and, ostensibly, a more effective gauge on their marketing.

The company has received criticism for the relatively low payments received by music rights holders, though music videos remain the site's most-viewed category. As well, the company's invite-only Music Key streaming service is said to be planning a launch this year, though no details have been released.

YouTube's parent company Google also published its second-quarter numbers today, with the company bringing in $17.7 billion between April and June, an 11.1 percent increase over the same period last year. Advertising revenues represented 90.1 percent of Google's income in Q2, $1.5 billion more than the same quarter last year, which the company partially attributed in its filing to the introduction of TrueView, alongside continuing global expansion (the company made about as much abroad, excluding the U.K., as it did in the U.S.) and ad improvements elsewhere. Traffic acquisition costs as a percentage of advertising revenues dropped to 21.1 percent, down from 22.9 percent last year.